Injuries in the summer months weren’t ideal for Daniel Farke building his squad for the start of the season, but transfers have aided him massively.
Both full-back positions needed improving in one way or another with either more depth or more quality, and it seems that the manager’s setup relies quite heavily on both positions.
Farke’s pre-Hull press conference confirmed that Junior Firpo would not be back for this week’s games against the Tigers and Watford, as he continues with individual training.
However, he said that the club “hope” that the left-back will be back in the squad as soon as possible, with the Southampton trip up next for Leeds in six days’ time.
Firpo scored the only goal in the last meeting against Southampton, when both sides were in the Premier League – Javi Gracia’s first game in charge.
Major boost for Farke?
At the moment, Sam Byram and Jamie Shackleton are covering the position very well to the point where there isn’t much pressure to get Firpo back up to speed.
One thing that has been clear, though, so far from Leeds’ struggles against teams sitting deep is that the full-backs need to be doing more in possession.
That is where the £13million signing from Barcelona should come in handy for Leeds, able to provide support to Willy Gnonto and co on the left channel, so he’s not coming up against a defensive overload every time he gets towards the box.
As much as fans were right to be worried every time Firpo was tasked to defend in the Premier League, the drop-down in standards now, on top with Leeds being more dominant in possession is a great thing for him.
